Patching the Break
by orangeyhairedimmortal
Summary: This is a one shot for my story Crumble. Things go a little fluffy at the end of this one, throwing off the angst that was supposed to be for Crumble. So you can think of this as an alternate ending or whatever. For those who don't know, just read Crumble. This is a one-shot and has fluff. IchiHime


a/n: okay this is a one shot for Crumble. it's not an epilogue... things got a little different and so i just made it a one shot

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9 MONTHS AFTER AIZEN'S REBELLION

Ichigo was happy that he didn't have his powers anymore. It was good to be a normal kid with normal things to do. He could focus on his part-time job now and not worry about seeing ghosts or worrying about Hollows. He could just be himself... Or what was left of himself.

After getting done with defeating Aizen and performing the Final Getsuga Tensho, he thought that the feelings and memories that he had gotten from being at Hueco Mundo would be pushed out of his mind, forgotten. And they were for a long period of time; as long as he was fighting and had something to preoccupy his time... But lately, when the dark of night came over Karakura Town and it was time to go to sleep, memories would creep into his mind.

Ichigo woke with a start, sweat covering his body and he was breathing hard. He swallowed and then tried to calm himself down, remembering that it was all in the past and that things were okay now.

"Ichi-nii..." he heard from his bedroom door.

He turned and saw Karin looking at him from the door.

"Karin."

"Are you alright?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I went to go to the bathroom and I could hear you talking in your sleep. You've been doing it a lot lately and I was just making sure that you were okay."

Ichigo smiled a little. "I'm fine, Karin. Don't worry about me."

She nodded, though not convinced that he was alright. It seemed that he would have some sort of nightmare every night and he would wake up looking exhausted, like he'd fought a battle. It was different from before when he would become a Soul Reaper. Karin knew that if she asked Ichigo to talk about it he wouldn't say anything, not wanting her to worry over him, but her brother never understood that his aloof nature made it where everyone _did_ worry about him.

Once Karin left, Ichigo ran his fingers through his hair and laid back on the bed again. After losing his powers, he hadn't really seen much of Orihime, Chad, or Ishida. _Probably training to get stronger... Good for them._ he said with as positive of an attitude as he could. Sure, he was happy to not have his powers anymore but that also meant that those he wanted to protect were in a lot more danger than they used to be in. Now he couldn't see some of the dangers...

He was just about to go to sleep again when he heard something hit his window. He sat up and turned his head, listening again.

_TAP_!

He moved over to his window and looked outside. He was surprised to find Orihime down there, looking up. When she saw him looking down at her, she waved slowly and then motioned him to come down to her. He was unsure of whether he should but if she had come all the way over, he figured he should see what she wanted.

Orihime stood outside of Ichigo's house, huddling in her coat. She had been having nightmares about when she was hypnotized by the Espada serum. She had been trying to avoid Ichigo to save both her sanity and his but the dreams just kept coming. Only the two of them knew what it was like to feel the way they were feeling and she had to talk to someone, even if it was the one she had hurt so badly.

"Inoue..."

She looked up as Ichigo walked over to her, hands in his pajama pockets. She smiled a little and turned to him fully when he stopped a little ways away from her. He never got close to her anymore after the fight with Aizen stopped. When things were preoccupying his mind, he was always with her. Now... if they ever met, he backed away and stayed about two feet away.

"I'm sorry to wake you up, Kurosaki-kun."

"I was already awake."

"Oh... Um... C-can we go talk somewhere?"

"Alone?" he asked, the uncertainty he tried to hide so obvious in the question.

"Yes. We need to talk a little and well... You're the only one I can speak to."

He nodded and they walked toward the park. They were silent on the way there, neither of them daring to speak until it was absolutely necessary.

They finally reached the park and Orihime sat on a swing, Ichigo on the other and she moved back and forth a little, thinking.

"So uh... what did you want to talk about?" he asked.

"Have you been having dreams?"

"Dreams?"

"About that time."

"Oh... yes, I have."

"I thought so. So have I... Kurosaki-kun, you are afraid of me." she said so sadly that it took all her courage to keep herself from falling to pieces.

Ichigo looked down at his feet and then launched himself into swinging. He couldn't answer her directly, for she had already said what he could never say so he needed to think about his next sentence. He didn't want to hurt Orihime more...

Orihime watched Ichigo swing, kicking his feet out and in, using his weight as momentum to fly. She watched as he gracefully swung back and forth, like a beautiful yet broken pendulum. She knew he was trying to think of something to say. _Because Kurosaki-kun is always so nice..._

He finally stopped and let the swing come to a halt. He breathed in deeply and turned to her.

"I don't want to be, but I can't stop thinking about the words you said to me. I know that you would never hurt my family, but now that I don't have any powers, I worry about them even more. The nightmares only add to my limitations. From the very beginning, I knew that you would never do it in your right mind but looking at you like that... If things hadn't gone the way they did, what could have happened? Would you have held to your promise?"

"I can't say that for sure. The serum was a lie anyway so maybe it would have worn off sooner or later. That doesn't matter though... I turned you into an Espada."

"Ulquiorra did..."

"But if I hadn't hurt you, you wouldn't have been so preoccupied. I took you off your guard and you were killed because of it. I watched you die, Kurosaki-kun... Your life was gone for a moment."

"I know but you called me back-"

"And turned you into an Espada. Then that made you say hurtful things to me and now we are back where we were..."

Ichigo sighed and stood up.

"It's all gone, right? That stuff they gave you?"

"Yes. I used the last of it to fight you."

He turned around and grabbed onto the chains of Orihime's swing. She looked up at him as he looked down at her.

"Did you mean what you said to me then?"

"What I said..."

"That you love me."

"Y-yes..." she said with a huge blush. "D-did _you_?"

He slid down the chains a little so that he was closer to her face than before. He studied her face and then slid a little more, his forehead against hers.

"Of course I did."

He turned his head and kissed her passionately. She returned his kiss and he stopped.

"I'm not who I used to be anymore, Inoue."

"I know. That doesn't make a difference to me."

She lifted herself with the chains and kissed him again.


End file.
